LPU2 said:
I think you're right; I think it means "well at least it's not us." But awkwardly, not cruelly. Kinda like when you pass an accident and you say "thank god I didn't leave two minutes earlier." You don't literally thank God THOSE people were hurt instead of you. You might SAY such a thing, but you probably wouldn't write it.
Also, I don't hear the mocking tone that you do. Why? Because it's nowhere else in the song. If you read the lyrics, the song is about as straightforward as a song gets. Not just void of irony, but sincere, unabashed, earnest...almost embarrassingly so. And suddenly, in one line, there's a mocking tone? I just don't buy it.
One more thing. I think Geldof doesn't think of God the way some of us do. When Bono says "thank God..." I think he literally means to thank our Creator. And that's probably why he balked at the line. When Geldof says it, I suspect it's just an idiom.
OK, now I've spent far too much time on this.
I dunno.
I think the problem is that it's not really "irony," but more of "sarcasm." That sentiment is in the song before the Bono line. This whole verse is doused in sarcasm:
At Christmastime it's hard,
but when you're having fun
There's a world outside your window,
and it's a world of dread and fear
Where the only water flowing
is the bitter sting of tears
And the Christmas bells that ring there
are the clanging chimes of doom
..essentially saying, "Hey, dumbass! You're sitting here drinking wine at your holiday party, hitting on the boss' daughter, having fun, but right outside there are people who aren't having fun because their world sucks."
It's prefaced by the line in the previous verse:
And in our world of plenty
we can spread a smile of joy
which gets you ready for the idea that our lives are bountiful & perhaps overstocked with good stuff.
Later, these lines have just as much sarcasm as Bono's line:
Here's to you raise a glass for everyone
Here's to them underneath that burning sun
In a song devised to generate funds to fight poverty, a song in which Geldof describes people living in a place where nothing ever grows, there's no water, and people are suffering underneath a burning sun, do you really think he
really wants you to simply "raise a glass?" What a lame action that would be! "Your life really sucks, you've got no food or water, and you're burning under the sun. I raise my glass to you."
You've really got to read/listen to the song with the original intent in mind. That original intent was to raise both awareness and, more importantly, money to fight poverty in Africa.
I also hope (and do believe) that Bono is a wise enough man to know that the phrase "thank God" isn't always to be taken literally...
is this a zoomacphisto800 post?